A 15-year-old boy faces reckless endangerment and other charges after police caught him in Mariners Harbor toting what appeared to be a gun, authorities allege. It turns out he was carrying a BB gun, according to city officials.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 15-year-old with a BB gun tucked into his waistband ended up in handcuffs after a brief foot chase through Mariners Harbor over the weekend, according to police.

According to authorities, officers spotted the youth – whose name was not released because of his age – with what looked like the butt of a gun jutting out of his waistband at 10:45 p.m. Friday, near the intersection of Emeric Court and Richmond Terrace.

The teen ran, but not before pulling the gun out of his waistband and holding it in his right hand, scaring a group of onlookers, a law enforcement source said.

The teen lives nearby, on Emeric Court – police got permission to search the premises from his mother, and found the weapon discarded in a side yard, the source said.

Though it appeared to be a firearm, authorities later determined it was, in fact, a BB gun, according to information from the city Corporation Counsel, which handled the case in Family Court.

The teen was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, according to police.

He appeared before a Family Court judge on Saturday with his mother and Mariella Martinez of the Legal Aid Society, and is due back on Wednesday, according to the city Law Department.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Steven Costigliacci, assigned to the Family Court Division’s Major Case Unit, represented the city at the Family Court hearing.